All posts by Pam O'Brien

Anna, Amy (and Lorcan on camera :)) interviewed Taragh Loughrey Grant from RTE at the School Digital Champion showcase. Taragh spoke about her work as the Digital Editor for Lifestyle for RTE, which involves looking after the Lifestyle section of the RTE website and the RTE NewsNow app, looking after the RTE social media accounts, presenting a parenting series, a podcats called the Hourglass Series and so much more!! She shared the opportunities that mobile journalism provides and spoke to us about how important it is for us to have female role models in STEM. Finally she shared some of her role models who include Countess Markievicz, Aine Lawwlor, Rachel English, Audrey Carville, Claire Byrne to name but a few! Taragh’s enthusiasm was infectious!

Amy, Anna and Lorcan did a phone interview with Minister Denis Naughten on the way home home from the School Digital Champion showcase. The Minister spoke about the need for the School Digital Champion Programme and why it is important for schools to get involved. He also spoke about why this is an important initiative for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in collaboration with the Department of Education and Skills. He finally shared his thoughts on the projects showcased today.

We are really grateful to the Minister for taking time out of his busy schedule this evening to give us an interview when time didn’t allow it earlier today.

Elizabeth Treacy did a session about the new Junior Cycle and how it gives teachers a new opportunity to listen to the student voice via the medium of project work.She also talked about how she used green screens in the classroom and why student voices are important and how digital technology supprted student voice.

He told us a little bit about his workshop he was running on the Digital Learning Framework. He also spoke about the schools pilot program and digital tools that could be used in school to support effective learning. We also spoke about the work of webwise and the dangers of the internet for young students

We interviewed a number of schools who showcased their work in Rang Bianca. we spoke to students from CBS Thurles, St. Joesph’s Borrisoleigh, Colaiste Mhuire Co-Ed, Thurles. they told us about how they used technology in their projects and their highlights of the day.

Lorcan and Amy spoke to Damien and Grainne from eTwinning. They spoke about the work eTwinning does and this benefits the learning of of students across Europe. They told us about the advantages of eTwinning and what they find difficult.

Amy and Denis spoke to Barney Brown. He is the head of Digital Communications at Cambridge University. In his Keynote he talked about the many different ways Cambridge use social platforms to spread the message and encourage people to apply. This include platforms like Instagram and Youtube. We asked him about which platforms he felt were most effective. We also found out about his involvement in the Intercontinental Music Lab and asked about how they reached this idea and what it entails.m mdiw

Jim Mullin is the Executive Director of Leargas. He has worked in Leargas to try to encourage teenagers to become more politically-active and culturally aware. Susan and Heather had the chance to interview him. He talked about the mission of Leargas and their strategies for it’s future.

Ursula Halligan chaired the discussion with the panel members at the Leargas Forum. Until recently she was the political editor of TV3. She is a very successful with many notable credits. Hannah and Wiktoria had the opportunity to interview. They asked about advice for aspiring journalists. If you want to know more, listen to the podcast.